There are a few days between the time this article was written and first pitch for the Sunday Night baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals leaving enough time for the Bravos to overtake the Mets for first place in the NL East. Finishing off a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh on Wednesday for their 14th win in 16 games moved Atlanta within a game and a half of first place.
While Atlanta’s not quite there, the Cards used their own run to grab control of the NL Central. They improved to 18-5 this month by winning six of eight games on their recent road trip. Atlanta has owned the series lately winning seven of the last eight meetings after taking three of four in Georgia back in July.
The NL clash between the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals takes place on Sunday, August 28, 2022 at 7:08 p.m. ET from Busch Stadium. The game will air live on ESPN with betting options for every game on the 2022 MLB schedule available at BookMaker.eu.
Braves vs Cardinals Odds
Atlanta Braves (Check Back Later)
St. Louis Cardinals (Check Back Later)
Total (Check Back Later)
Season So Far…
The Braves are on a roll right now and have been for a few months. At the start of June they were four games under .500 and 10.5 games behind New York in the NL East. The defending champs were looking for a spark and they got it. I don’t know what it was, but they got it. They started June with 14 consecutive victories and won 55 of their last 76 games for a healthy 72.4 winning percentage. It’s a smaller sample size, but no team in MLB has won more than 70 percent of its game this season, so yeah, they’re hot.
Everything is clicking right now with the offense a force. The Braves scored 14 in the series finale with Pittsburgh and have plated at least five runs in 14 of 23 games this month. They average 4.94 runs and are second in the majors with a .761 OPS and 190 homers. They’ve played above the total in a MLB high 63 games and own the third-highest OVER percentage at 53.4. Austin Riley is in the MVP race with a team-high 31 homers while hitting .284 with 82 RBIs.
The Cards are also scorching hot entering this series. They were four games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central on July 30 but have gone 19-5 since following an 8-3 beating of the Cubs on Thursday. Included in that run were winning streak of seven and eight games. And the Cards haven’t lost consecutive games since July 24-26. And like the Braves they’ve had an offensive uprising scoring at least five runs 16 of those 24 games while reaching double figures four times and raising their season average to 4.85 runs per game.
St. Louis finished off a 6-2 road trip by pounding Chicago on Thursday. Paul Goldschmidt is getting some competition for NL MVP but he’s still the favorite at this point. He helped himself on Thursday jacking a pair of home runs and driving in five. He enters the series with a MLB leading .339 average, 33 homers and 105 RBIs. And the Cards are a good investment at home going 40-21 putting them $1025 in the black.
Probable Pitchers
Jake Odorizzi (5-5, 3.95 ERA) has been a serviceable starter throughout his 11-year MLB career and his numbers in four starts with the Braves are comparable to his lifetime numbers. He started the season in Houston going 4-3 with a 3.75 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 12 starts, but struggled in his first three outings with his new club pitching to a 5.93 ERA with 22 hits surrendered in 13.2 innings. He was much better last time out picking up his first win since early July allowing one run on four hits with seven strikeouts over six innings in a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh. Odorizzi has had limited opportunities to pitch against the Cards with all his time spent in the AL prior to the trade. He is 2-1 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in four lifetime outings against them with both wins coming in St. Louis.
Veteran Adam Wainwright (9-9, 3.11 ERA) continues to put up solid numbers in his 17th big league season. He’s benefitted from strong run support with the club averaging nearly 5.5 runs per game in his starts. He had his worst outing of the season on July 22 conceding seven earned runs and two homers in 5.1 innings, but has responded in his last six starts going 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. And he’s allowed just one home run over 40 innings in that span. He pitched well last time out giving up a pair of runs over six frames but lost 2-0 to the Cubs. Three of his losses came when the Cards were shutout.
Braves vs Cardinals Predictions
The Cards have been on a tear at home and I like the pitching matchup in their favor. Wainwright has had some poor outings in the past against the Braves, but he’s also had some dandies, and he appears to be in a groove. With two top offensive clubs going at it we could see some fireworks, but in the end the Cards pull away.
Today’s Prediction: St. Louis Cardinals / OVER
